Hi all - New WoodBurner Installation

[RichP]

Firstly - hello all... New here. 

 

All being well, I am due to complete a house purchase this month. I have wanted a log burner for as long as I can remember but never had a property where it would be possible - until now. 

 

My question really surrounds the building of a 'fireplace' which will hide the flue on the burner and also serve as somewhere to mount the TV (I will utilze an Oak beem to act as a mantlepiece and protect the TV from heat). 

 

In order to do this I will need to install mains electricity behind the television. Ideally I would also like to have a small recess behind the TV in which to hide Sky/Virgin Media box. However, I'm unsure whether this would be possible due to fire regulations. Can anyone offer any insight into how they may have ensured that wires were not visible when completing a project such as the one I have described above?

 

Many thanks in advance,

Rich 

[Haironyourchest]

Put the box somewhere else, not behind the tv, and chase the wires from the box to the tv into the wall and fill and paint. Install the burner first then do the tv?

[RichP]

19 minutes ago, Haironyourchest said:

Put the box somewhere else, not behind the tv, and chase the wires from the box to the tv into the wall and fill and paint. Install the burner first then do the tv?

That is one thought but the issue is really then how do you get the cables out if there is ever an issue. 

[neiln]

When you say building a fireplace, what is there now and what do you want to end up with?  A photo or sketch may help.

[Haironyourchest]

52 minutes ago, RichP said:

That is one thought but the issue is really then how do you get the cables out if there is ever an issue. 

Run them through conduits. Chase, run cable through conduit - 1 for each cable - and then glue the conduits into the chasings with liberal amounts of Tek7 or similar and clips. No sharp bends. There shouldn't ever be a problem with the cables, the terminations, maybe. Conduits must be amply large to allow the terminations to slide through them, like HDMI etc.

[RichP]

2 minutes ago, neiln said:

When you say building a fireplace, what is there now and what do you want to end up with?  A photo or sketch may help.

 

2 minutes ago, neiln said:

When you say building a fireplace, what is there now and what do you want to end up with?  A photo or sketch may help.

At present it is a bare external wall in a single story, ground floor extension. So flue can either go straight up or out and up. The following link is the sort of thing I’m thinking (though it will need to be wider than this). 

 

If there is no recess behind the TV (maybe because there is a fire safety risk) then I would be very interested to learn what the alternatives are. I’m thinking some form of tubing that runs from the power sockets / TV boxes to the rear of the television. 
 

TV over log burner | Log burner living room, Above fireplace ideas, Tv above fireplace

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[RichP]

11 minutes ago, Haironyourchest said:

Run them through conduits. Chase, run cable through conduit - 1 for each cable - and then glue the conduits into the chasings with liberal amounts of Tek7 or similar and clips. No sharp bends. There shouldn't ever be a problem with the cables, the terminations, maybe. Conduits must be amply large to allow the terminations to slide through them, like HDMI etc.

I guess the issue with that is the openings being unsightly. But potentially an option yes if they are tactically placed. 
 

 

[Steven P]

Not wanting to get too technical on you... but if you are installing cables around the chimney better make sure that they are suitable for the temperature. The worlds best DIY shop (just a very quick google search) suggests that twin and earth is rated for up to 70deg C. Now the plaster on my chimney is a comfortable 40-ish just now without the fire running too hot, the brickwork behind it will be maybe another 10? (maybe I should check this out one day).. could be 50 deg C which is quite close to the max for a cable.... Then there might be an effect on the TV with regular heat and cool cycles - check the operating temperatures for the TV also?

 

So... nice idea, I wouldn't do it but it would make our TV more of a centre piece. I would also consider the route of the flue and if you can put insulation between there and the wiring and gadgets. If you can insulate it all from the heat of the flue then why not? The heat isn't so much coming upwards in mine as coming through the brickwork from behind.

 

As for cables to the TV and gadgets, yup you can put them all in a conduit in the wall or you might just mount a couple of double sockets in wall be the TV mounts, have the cables buried in the wall like all the others are. Conduits so you can take out the cables, but most people get their houses rewired every 25, 40, never years, it is not going to be a problem and you'd need to fix up all the other walls in 25 years time when you get that far.

 

Coms cables? Run them in when you are dong the power if you want them. I got a wall plate from our favourite DIY shop with removeable panels, small hole drilled in that and the telephone extension cable was hidden in the wall, popping out at the wall box at router and BT socket (since changed that so that BT is terminated right next to the router)

 

 

[neiln]

So the flue would be twin wall, and this would then be hidden inside a fake chimney breast. In which case the fake breast (aka, a silicone booby) can be constructed of wood and plaster board, making the running of cables easier.  The twin wall would allow combustibles fairly close, but don't ignore the regs for the stove

 

[RichP]

27 minutes ago, neiln said:

So the flue would be twin wall, and this would then be hidden inside a fake chimney breast. In which case the fake breast (aka, a silicone booby) can be constructed of wood and plaster board, making the running of cables easier.  The twin wall would allow combustibles fairly close, but don't ignore the regs for the stove

 

Silicone booby made me laugh. I’ll use a local company hopefully to do the full job so presumably they’ll be able to offer their advice. The main school of thinking is ‘where do I put the Virgin Media wall socket?’ Either it goes high so it can go behind the TV but the consensus I’m reading here suggests it may be better to one side of the fire / fake booby.